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The Contribution Of Negative Social Responses To Self-Blame Among Survivors Of Sexual Violence : A Psychodynamic And Sociocultural Perspective, Jessica J. Somers
The Contribution Of Negative Social Responses To Self-Blame Among Survivors Of Sexual Violence : A Psychodynamic And Sociocultural Perspective, Jessica J. Somers
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Survivors of sexual violence often blame themselves for harms committed against them, echoing the negative responses they receive from others upon disclosure. While it appears that the hostile social climate surrounding sexual violence disclosure contributes to self-blame, the mechanism by which negative responses exert this pernicious influence has not been sufficiently articulated in prior research. Responding to this deficit, this theoretical investigation addresses three questions: 1) What is the psychic mechanism by which negative social responses engender self-blame among survivors of sexual violence? 2) What social factors explain why this mechanism is activated around sexual violence disclosure? 3) What are …
Pregnancy, An Opportunity For Empowerment : A Trauma And Attachment Informed Approach To Creating A Corrective Relationship For Mothers With Trauma Histories And Subsequent Substance Abuse, Judith W. Kamara
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical thesis examined how the capacity of a healthy pregnancy and birth and positive attachment could be a corrective experience for mothers with histories of trauma and subsequent substance use. Socratic questioning was used to help trauma and attachment-informed clinicians approach mothers in this population as an asset to their infants rather than viewing them as a risk, hopefully challenging the socially prevalent belief that these mothers should be treated punitively rather than receive treatment. The phenomenon also focused on this population of mothers rather than their infants as primary victim, examining individual and systemic factors that contribute to …
Self-Love Or Self-Obsession? : A Comparative Theoretical Analysis Of Black Women's Natural Hair Selfies On Social Media, Rachael E. Gardiner
Self-Love Or Self-Obsession? : A Comparative Theoretical Analysis Of Black Women's Natural Hair Selfies On Social Media, Rachael E. Gardiner
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Whether selfies and use of social media is indicative of rising trends in narcissism in American culture is a ripe debate in academic and popular culture. This theoretical thesis will examine current research on social media usage and narcissism, and consider how aspects of culture, historical, and structural racism complicate understanding of the current trend. This project will consider how oppression of Black women's bodies and perpetuation of European standards of beauty in American culture negatively impacts Black women's self-perception, particularly in relation to their hair. Due to ongoing negative perception and attempts to control Black women's bodies through their …
Gang Stalking : Internet Connectivity As An Emerging Mental Health Concern, Elizabeth E. Dietrich
Gang Stalking : Internet Connectivity As An Emerging Mental Health Concern, Elizabeth E. Dietrich
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This study examines emerging concerns about small online social communities that purport to support their members, but which in actuality exacerbate mental health issues. Here, the author focuses on one such community that has gone unstudied: The Gang Stalking community. Here, individuals who seem to suffer from Delusional Disorder come together and discuss their experiences of being stalked by a multitude of people in concert with the sole aim of creating terror in their lives. These people call themselves Targeted Individuals. The support that these individuals find on gang stalking websites soothes their amorphous anxiety about being watched, but in …
Jewish Annihilation Anxiety : Diasporic Legacies Of Trauma, Alexandra T. Samets
Jewish Annihilation Anxiety : Diasporic Legacies Of Trauma, Alexandra T. Samets
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This paper presents and discusses the existence of Jewish annihilation anxiety, using both psychoanalytic theory and thinking from critical whiteness studies to do so. First drawing from early psychoanalytic thinking by both Sigmund Freud (1916, 1926, 1933) and Melanie Klein (1935) on the most basic dangers and fundamental anxieties, and then from later psychoanalytic thinking on the role of inherited trauma in creating enduring anxieties across generations, this paper presents the concept of annihilation anxiety as both an internally experienced psychic state and a trauma-induced one. Using the work of Eric Goldstein (2006) on the process and experience of Jewish …
The Challenge Of Moral Difference : A Theoretical Investigation Of Encounters With A Client's Capacity For Violence, Sarah K. Brady
The Challenge Of Moral Difference : A Theoretical Investigation Of Encounters With A Client's Capacity For Violence, Sarah K. Brady
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Clinical social workers face an ethical imperative to work with a range of clients, some of whom will undoubtedly espouse views and confess to violent behavior that will differ, sometimes profoundly, with the worker's own personal moral compass and the values of the social work profession. How are clinical social workers to navigate the potential impasses that arise from such encounters? This theoretical thesis explores the dilemma of engaging with a client whose morality is experienced by the worker as untenable. It draws on two bodies of theory, moral anthropology and relational psychoanalysis—both of which emphasize contingency, circumstance, and the …
"Black Is, Black Ain't" : A Theoretical Exploration Of The Impact Of Systemic Racism On African American Adolescent Identity Development, Janae A. Peters
"Black Is, Black Ain't" : A Theoretical Exploration Of The Impact Of Systemic Racism On African American Adolescent Identity Development, Janae A. Peters
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical thesis explores the impact of systemic racism on the African American adolescent's ability to secure a cohesive and positive identity. Working from a symbolic interactionist frame influenced by critical race theory and social identity theory, this thesis explores the unique challenges African Americans face in this critical identity development process and seeks to explore explanations for the role of racism as an institutionalized system that hinders healthy development. This thesis aims to examine how the messages received by African Americans in all systems--ranging from schools to health services--privilege the dominant perspective and ideology and negatively impact racial identity …
Bridging The Gap : Integrating Intersectional Oppression And The Unconscious Mind In Prostitution Discourse, Hannah R. Pocock
Bridging The Gap : Integrating Intersectional Oppression And The Unconscious Mind In Prostitution Discourse, Hannah R. Pocock
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This paper brings intersectional theory into conversation with relational psychoanalytic theory to examine how the interlocking oppressions of race, class, and gender shape and sustain the commercial sexual exploitation of women, and how an intrapsychic analysis can shed light on women's entry into prostitution, they challenges they face in attempting to escape it, and considerations for psychotherapy with prostituted women. This paper attempts to bridge the gap between sturctural and intrapsychic analyses of prostitution, examining the interaction between structural oppression and intrapsychic processes that script multiply marginalized women for prostitution. This analysis challenges the notion of the universal "sex worker" …
Love-Melancholy : Revolt Against Mourning, Samantha R. Chaplin
Love-Melancholy : Revolt Against Mourning, Samantha R. Chaplin
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
The aim of this paper is to consider the phenomena of love-melancholy through an object relations framework, conceiving of this phenomena as a revolt against mourning. The theoretical framework utilized is the early object relations concepts introduced by Freud in his 1917 paper Mourning and Melancholia and elaborated by object relations theorist Melanie Klein in her later works. Using the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) as a case example, this writer identifies a developmental process that occurs in resolving the pain of love-melancholy, emphasizing mourning the lost love object as necessary for establishing hope for future attachments.
The Emergency Department As A Holding Environment : Using Object Relations Theory And Institutional Transference To Explore Schizophrenia And Emergency Department Overuse, Caroline B. Schnell
The Emergency Department As A Holding Environment : Using Object Relations Theory And Institutional Transference To Explore Schizophrenia And Emergency Department Overuse, Caroline B. Schnell
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
The purpose of this study was to explore if object relations theory and institutional transference can help explain why some people with schizophrenia overuse the emergency department (ED). Since deinstitutionalization, and the implementation of managed care, high utilization of the ED by people with mental illnesses has become an important, and controversial topic within medical and mental health settings. High utilization negatively impacts both ED staff members, and people with schizophrenia. Specifically, this study examined this phenomenon through the lens of object relations theory, and institutional transference. Object relations theory contributed to an understanding of social relationships in schizophrenia, and …
The Roots And Implications Of Rape Myth Acceptance In Public Discourse : The Steubenville, Ohio Rape Case, Shannon E. Mackey
The Roots And Implications Of Rape Myth Acceptance In Public Discourse : The Steubenville, Ohio Rape Case, Shannon E. Mackey
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Sexual violence is an endemic problem in the United States. Despite the ubiquity of rape and our legally affirmed agreement that it is a crime, research and observation indicates that people who would not perpetrate sex crimes nonetheless frequently endorse sexual violence through both passive and proactive behaviors. Evidence of such cultural norms can be found in public discourse when we observe how people talk about sexual violence, a concept that has been operationalized in the field of psychology as the rhetoric of rape myths. Using the 2011 Steubenville, Ohio high school rape case, this theoretical project explores psychological and …
The Power Of Play : A Theoretical Study Of Play, The Self, And The Public School, Rebecca G. Medrano
The Power Of Play : A Theoretical Study Of Play, The Self, And The Public School, Rebecca G. Medrano
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
The objective of this theoretical study was to examine how the decrease of play in early childhood education is affecting the developmental process of the child. Noted implications for the lack of play in schools included a decrease in creative thinking and imagination in childhood, an increase in ADHD and depression in children, an increase in preschool expulsions, an increase in special education services, and disparities in access to play for children of color and children living in poverty. A theoretical framework was used to examine the intersection between play, the school environment, and the developing child. The analysis utilized …
Shifting Paradigms : The Embodied Intersubjective Matrix, Joanna Wiederhorn
Shifting Paradigms : The Embodied Intersubjective Matrix, Joanna Wiederhorn
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical thesis traces two paradigmatic shifts currently transforming psychodynamic theory and practice: the shift from a one-person to a two-person psychology and the shift from conscious cognition to unconscious embodied affect. These two shifts support a phenomenological understanding of the clinical encounter as inherently intersubjective and embodied. The concept of embodied intersubjectivity is explored by weaving together relevant literature from the fields of relational psychoanalysis, interpersonal neurobiology, contemporary developmental psychology, and body psychotherapy. The view is offered that, for some clients more than others, developing a deeper connection with one's embodied sense of self, and having that experience recognized …
The Role Of Fictional Narratives In Adolescent Identity Formation : A Theoretical Exploration, Anne Lind
The Role Of Fictional Narratives In Adolescent Identity Formation : A Theoretical Exploration, Anne Lind
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical study explores the ways in which adolescents' engagement with fictional narratives can support developmental processes of identity formation and individuation. The purpose of the study was to develop a theoretical framework for understanding the intense relationship that some adolescents have with favorite books, movies, and television shows. A review of the literature on the psychology of fiction showed that, when deeply engaged with a narrative, readers are able to simulate characters' experiences in ways that lead to changes in behavior, empathy, and self-concept. A review of the literature on parasocial relationships showed that readers and viewers often form …
The Work Of André Green : An Introduction, Louis Scuderi
The Work Of André Green : An Introduction, Louis Scuderi
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
André Green was a French psychoanalyst whose work represents a unique contribution to the fields of theoretical, clinical, and applied psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic social work. Little has been written about him in English, however. In this study, Green's overarching theoretical project is reviewed, in addition to some of his major concepts and their clinical implications. Green's relationship to French psychoanalysis is outlined, as well as his relationship to his major influences: Winnicott, Bion, Lacan, and most importantly, Freud. Green's conceptions of the drives, narcissism, and the work of the negative are discussed in detail, and his work is situated in …
Conceptualization And Treatment Of Psychoanalytic Envy Through Kleinian/Bionian Lens, Maia Kolchin-Miller
Conceptualization And Treatment Of Psychoanalytic Envy Through Kleinian/Bionian Lens, Maia Kolchin-Miller
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Envy, like so much in psychoanalytic thought, occupies something of a transitional space between concept and experience. Colloquially, envy is often used to mean something similar to (but worse than) jealousy. Psychoanalytically, the concept/phenomenon/experience is far more complex, however; it is something for which there are many causes and for which there can be no material cure. In this theoretical study of psychoanalytic envy, the work of Melanie Klein and Wilfred Bion are used to develop a conceptualization of envy and formulate recommendations for clinical work with the "envious patient." Case material is used to synthesize their two approaches to …
The Only One : Exploring Identity Development In Black Adolescent Girls Who Are Both Educated And Raised In White Spaces, Jessica L. Ricardo
The Only One : Exploring Identity Development In Black Adolescent Girls Who Are Both Educated And Raised In White Spaces, Jessica L. Ricardo
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical study offers insight into how racial isolation experienced by Black adolescent girls living and educated in white spaces hinders their overall wellbeing and sense of identity. By focusing on Black adolescent girls who are raised and educated in predominantly white settings, my research adds and expands the often rigid and incomplete narrative that is found in academia regarding the psychosocial functioning and development of Black adolescent girls. This research uses both Erikson's model for Adolescent Development and Objectification Theory to illuminate the challenges posed by the encompassing experiences of racial isolation on positive self-image and identity development for …
Treating Non-Offending Caregivers With A History Of Childhood Sexual Abuse And Their Sexually Victimized Children : A Case Study Using Object Relations Theory And Trauma Theory, Maytal Schmidt
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Childhood sexual abuse is a horrific crime and prevalent social problem within our society that requires multiple levels of intervention. Sexual victimization and sexual offending of children is not a new phenomenon. Although literature is available on childhood sexual abuse, much less is known about non-offending caregivers of sexually abuse children who have their own history of childhood sexual abuse. A consistent finding across research on childhood sexual abuse and non-offending caregivers is the importance of the child-caregiver relationship in facilitating recovery for both the child and caregiver. This theoretical study examined the phenomenological experiences of non-offending caregivers whose children …
Hidden In Plain Sight : The Sibling Relationship And Psychodynamic Theory, Jenny A. Joyal
Hidden In Plain Sight : The Sibling Relationship And Psychodynamic Theory, Jenny A. Joyal
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
In psychotherapy, psychodynamic theory informs a large part of clinical practice. Throughout time, the prevailing theories have been largely devoted to exploring the parent-child relationship and its influence on development. A noticeable gap in the existing psychodynamic literature is in respect to the unique complexities of the sibling. The intent of this thesis is to further synthesize, explore, and contribute to the relatively small body of psychodynamic literature that addresses the sibling relationship. By the use of two very different major theoretical orientations, this thesis emphasizes the distinct, powerful, and mutual influence of siblings on development. It demonstrates that conflicted …
Theorizing Anxiety : Psychodynamic Exploration Beyond The Medical Model, Daniel E. Weinbaum
Theorizing Anxiety : Psychodynamic Exploration Beyond The Medical Model, Daniel E. Weinbaum
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical study explores the phenomenon of anxiety and how it has been understood, articulated and treated over time in psychoanalysis. Formulations of anxiety in classical theory, object relations, attachment, interpersonal, relational and trauma theory will be explored, offering a counterpoint to the current medical model in which anxiety is primarily understood as a symptom to be eradicated through medication and "evidence based" treatments. The study argues that anxiety only exists within a relational and systemic context, and that reducing anxiety to a set of discrete disorders requiring prescriptive treatment protocols often overlooks the complexity of individual experience and need …
Do You Even Lift Bro? : A Psychodynamic Feminist Analysis Of The Mental Health Benefits Of Weight Lifting For Women, Katharine H. Macshane
Do You Even Lift Bro? : A Psychodynamic Feminist Analysis Of The Mental Health Benefits Of Weight Lifting For Women, Katharine H. Macshane
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
No abstract provided.
Beyond Machismo : A Theoretical Exploration Of Domestic Violence In Latino Men, Daniela Sanchez
Beyond Machismo : A Theoretical Exploration Of Domestic Violence In Latino Men, Daniela Sanchez
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical thesis explores psychodynamic explanations for differing rates of domestic violence (DV) between Latino men born in the U.S. and Latino men who immigrated to the U.S. This study specifically focuses on DV in the form of intimate terrorism. Critical race theory and Klein's object relations theory are applied to Dr. Christauria G. Welland's case of Lorenzo to demonstrate how racism influences internal and interpersonal dynamics in DV relationships. The author encourages social workers to apply critical race theory to traditional psychodynamic theories for a more comprehensive case formulation, especially when working with Latino clients involved in a DV …
From Sadomasochism To Bdsm : Rethinking Object Relations Theorizing Through Queer Theory And Sex-Positive Feminism, Simon Z. Weismantel
From Sadomasochism To Bdsm : Rethinking Object Relations Theorizing Through Queer Theory And Sex-Positive Feminism, Simon Z. Weismantel
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical thesis explores the phenomenon of BDSM. BDSM is a type of consensual erotic experience that covers a wide range of interactions between or among people. Referencing the compound acronym BDSM, these interactions encompass: bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; and sadism and masochism. This project investigates psychoanalytic conceptualizations of BDSM, often called sadomasochism in analytic literature. In particular, object relations theory conceptualizations of BDSM are explored. Object relations theorists have tended to identify sadomasochism as pathology. This thesis explores and uses queer theory and sex-positive feminism to analyze two important object relations authors' writings on sadomasochism (i.e., Otto …
"Show Me The Face You Had Before Your Parents Were Born" : African-American New Thought Ministers And 'The Black Interior', Kaitlin N. Smith
"Show Me The Face You Had Before Your Parents Were Born" : African-American New Thought Ministers And 'The Black Interior', Kaitlin N. Smith
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical research critically explores the phenomenon of contemporary African Americans seeking to cultivate individual identities that are not bound by the external demands inherent in a black racial identity. It examines the work and ideas of three African-American New thought ministers who articulate a vision of liberation that is predicated on the cultivation of an interior spiritual identity beyond the social world. This research employs two theoretical frameworks that may help to shed light on the reasons for and implications of contemporary African Americans constructing their identities in this manner. The first of these theoretical frameworks is sociologist Eduardo …
The Desire To Informally Mentor : Creative Growth Within The Third Space, Emily K. Porter
The Desire To Informally Mentor : Creative Growth Within The Third Space, Emily K. Porter
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical thesis endeavors to explore the unconscious benefits accrued by the mentor in informal mentoring relationships. It focuses on a significant gap in the theoretical and empirical literature by identifying and describing the potential benefit for the mentor beyond Erikson's (1950) notion of generativity within his framework of psychosocial development. This thesis employs both Drive Theory and Object Relations Theories in order to conceptualize a more dynamic understanding of why the mentor might invest energy and time as a participant in an informal mentoring relationship. Both Drive and Object Relations Theories are used to explore the hypothesized three-part relationship …
Conceptualization Of Anorexia Nervosa : A Theoretical Synthesis Of Self-Psychology And Family Systems Perspectives, Molly E. Gray
Conceptualization Of Anorexia Nervosa : A Theoretical Synthesis Of Self-Psychology And Family Systems Perspectives, Molly E. Gray
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
Anorexia nervosa is a life-threatening psychiatric disorder that has increased in diagnostic prevalence over the last century. Findings suggest that individuals at greatest risk are females between the ages of 15-22, who demonstrate heightened levels of perfectionism and a need for control. This theoretical thesis hopes to provide clinical social workers and other mental health professionals with a deeper understanding of the psychological, familial, and developmental factors contributing to the onset of the disorder in order to increase the effectiveness of future treatment. Self-psychology will be examined to offer a possible developmental and psychological framework for understanding the emotional challenges …
Self-Compassion Paradox : A Theoretical Exploration Of Many Compassionate People's Lack Of Self-Compassion, Shihan Qin
Self-Compassion Paradox : A Theoretical Exploration Of Many Compassionate People's Lack Of Self-Compassion, Shihan Qin
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
It seems a common belief that a person cannot have genuine compassion for other people until he can have compassion for himself. However, it seems a pervasive phenomenon that when encountering difficult situations (e.g. failure and fatal disease), many people do not give themselves the compassion they would give to other people in the same situations. This theoretical study aims at supporting my hypothesis that people without self-compassion can still have compassion for others. Relevant evolutionary and neurobiological theories and object relations theories are used to explore this phenomenon. I also apply these two theories to a case study of …
A Critique Of The Concept "Consciousness" In Psychodynamic Theory : Implications For Understanding Repression, Inna Goldberg
A Critique Of The Concept "Consciousness" In Psychodynamic Theory : Implications For Understanding Repression, Inna Goldberg
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This project critiques the way that the concept "consciousness" has traditionally been, and continues to be, understood in psychodynamic theories. Focusing on the phenomenon of repression, it shows that a different way of conceptualizing consciousness can help shed light on the confusing matter of the relationship between insight and improvement of symptoms in therapy. Many practitioners have shifted toward relational approaches in recent times, in part due to realizations about the limited roles of insight in generating change. The project makes the case that contributions of relational theory can be expanded and maximized if the model of consciousness assumed therein …
For The Love Of Them : A Theoretical Study Of The Collective In The United States Military Through Freudian And Fornarian Theory, Sophia E. Slote
For The Love Of Them : A Theoretical Study Of The Collective In The United States Military Through Freudian And Fornarian Theory, Sophia E. Slote
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
This theoretical study examined the experience of the collective in the United States Military through a psychoanalytic psychosocial developmental framework, while drawing upon case material from War, Sebastian Junger's (2010) documentation of a U.S. platoon stationed in the Korangal Valley of Afghanistan. Freudian group theory was used to examine the strengthbased perspective of libidinal bonds developed in the military collective. Fornarian theory, rooted in the early Object-Relations school, was presented to critically examine the regressive qualities of collectivization in the military, characterized by the paranoid-schizoid position. This examination explored the potential impact of the collective experience on the individual service …
Attractiveness Privilege : The Unearned Advantages Of Physical Attractivenesss, Kelsey P. Yonce
Attractiveness Privilege : The Unearned Advantages Of Physical Attractivenesss, Kelsey P. Yonce
Theses, Dissertations, and Projects
In this theoretical investigation, I explore level of physical attractiveness as a characteristic that privileges people who are more attractive and oppresses those who are less attractive. I discuss the concept of privilege, societal standards of physical attractiveness, and the ways in which people who are more physically attractive are treated and perceived more positively by others. To examine this phenomenon more deeply, I introduce the theoretical perspectives of intersectionality and conflict theory. Intersectionality refers to the idea that different areas of privilege and oppression interact with each other in ways that create unique experiences of privilege and oppression for …